"You can be in Lancaster, Pennsylvania and come up with the next great idea in music."

Kevin Lyman never wanted to be a musician - and yet, his world revolves around guitar strums, kick drums and microphones.

Lyman is the creator and producer of the Vans Warped Tour, the longest-running extreme sports and touring music festival in the United States. He is also the part owner of Side One Dummy Record Company, which counts the Dan Band, Reverend Peyton's Big Damn Band and PUP among its roster. He'll be sharing lessons he has learned on the road and advice on the music industry at the 2014 LAUNCH Music Conference in Lancaster.

"I could have gotten frustrated and quit three times this morning, trust me," he went on. What keeps him going is the end result - in his case, a successful Warped Tour. All the hard work eventually pays off, he reminds himself. "Don't let small defeats, defeat you."

Don't underestimate yourself, either. "The music business is being recreated by the day right now," Lyman said. "It's not being created in the traditional ways - the people who are creating it are all over the world and all over the country."

"You don't have to be in L.A. or New York City anymore," he continued. "You can be in Lancaster, Pennsylvania and come up with the next great idea in music."

He'll be on the lookout for that great idea in Lancaster while at LAUNCH, where he plans to be active in more than just his panel.

"It's nice to go to conferences that aren't huge," he said. "You get to have more interaction with the people there." He plans on walking around, checking out as many acts as he can.

"It's about live music for me," he said. "Don't put me in the studio. I can always hear a good song, but I want to hear it live."

Those are the kind of acts he wants to have on his Warped Tour. "Maybe they don't have all the hits, but if they're good live, you'll relate to it, you know," he said. "I'm looking for that person that can get out there and jam live - it may not be pretty, but everyone reacts."

Music for Lyman is a chance to bring people together. "I've never met a person who says I hate music," he said. "I may hate death metal, I may hate opera - but I've never known anyone to hate music."

Just by bringing people together you are forming common bonds. There's also the added bonus: "You're willing to learn when you're having fun," Lyman said. That's one of the reasons Lyman believes the Warped Tour is the biggest classroom in America.

Still, he recognizes that sometimes a concert is just a concert for some people. "You're never going to change the whole world," he said. "But that's okay."

DETAILS: Kevin Lyman will be participating in three LAUNCH sessions: General Q&A (2:15 p.m. April 18, Can You Handle The Truth? (1:30 p.m. April 19) and One-on-One Mentoring (3:15 p.m. April 19). LAUNCH Music Conference and Festival runs April 17-20 in downtown Lancaster. Cost: $35-$60 Weekend badges, $20 Friday or Saturday badges. Launchmusicconference.com.